The Settler's Almanac

Rule details and Examples. An alphabetical listing of the game terms begins
after the Materials section. The "(=>)" symbol means "go
to" that term for more information. Use the German word for each term to
find the diagrams in the German rules.

Materials

37 Hexagons representing the following terrain:

Forest (4)

Pasture (4)

Farm Land (4)

Hills (3)

Mountains (3)

Sea (9 with harbors and 9 without)

Wasteland (1)

95 Raw Material Cards (19 cards per type):

Lumber - Logs from the Forest

Wool - Sheep from the Pasture

Grains - Wheat Stalks from the Farmland

Bricks - Clay from the Hills

Ore - Ore from the Mountains

25 Development Cards:

Knights (14)

Progress (6)

Victory Points (5)

4 Building Cost Cards

2 Special Cards:

Longest street

Largest knight force

Game figures (in four colors):

16 cities (churches)

20 settlements (houses)

60 roads (small rod)

18 Markers (numbers on one side letters on the other)

2 Dice

Note that there may be a spare set of houses and cities in
an orange color that is very similar to the red. These are
the result of a manufacturing problem that franckh corrected
by including houses and cities in the correct shade of orange
and are not used in the game.

Build Phase (Bauen)

After a player has received his or her Raw Material Production and has completed
all Trades, that player may now Build. The Building Cost Cards show how many Raw
Material Cards need to be turned in to build buildings or roads or to buy
Development Cards. As long as you have the Raw Material Cards to spend, you may
build as many buildings or roads or buy as many Development Cards as you like.
See also: Building Costs, Roads, Settlements, Cities, Development Cards.

When a player has completed their Build phase, his or her turn is over and the
player to the left continues.

Building Cost (Baukosten)

The Building Costs Card shows what can be built and what must be paid in Raw
Material Cards to build it. Spent Raw Material Cards are returned to their
respective decks to be used again. The player can build Settlements (=>) and
Roads (=>). the player can expand Settlements into Cities (=>) and the
player can also buy Development Cards (=>).

Cities (Stadt)

Only an existing settlement can be expanded to a city. A player in his or her
turn pays the raw material Building Cost and replaces the settlement cottage
with the a church (city) of the same color. Each city counts as 2 victory points
and their owner receives double Raw Material production for each adjacent land
hex.

Example

The dice roll is an "8". The Black player receives 3 Ore cards
(1 x for the settlement, 2 x for the city). The White player receives 2 Lumber
cards for his city.

Hint

It is tough to win the game without creating cities. Since each player has
only 5 settlements at their disposal, no more than 5 victory points can be earned
with settlements alone.

Construction, Variables (Aufbau, Variabler)

How to construct the Island so that it is different each time.

Separate the Land Hexes from the Sea Hexes.

Turn the Land Hexes face down and mix them up.

Select five and place them face down in a straight line.

Select eight more. Place four on one side of the first five and four on the other.

Select six more. Place three next to the four on the right and three next to the four on the left.

Sort the 9 Sea Hexes with harbors from those without. Place the Sea Hexes with harbors next to any of the Land Hexes but do not place any two next to each other. IMPORTANT: The Sea hexes with harbors must be placed so that the harbor locations (semicircles) border a Land Hex.

Fill in the gaps with the other 9 non-harbor Sea hexes.

Place the 18 Markers.

Set the Markers next to the Island with their letter side up.

Now place the Markers in alphabetical sequence onto the Land Hexes. Begin on any of the Coastal Hexes and continue clockwise until each Land Hex receives a Marker. NOTE: The Wasteland hex does not receive a Marker.

Once all Markers have been placed, turn them number side up.

Now proceed to the Founding Phase (=>).

Development Card Play (Entwicklungskarte spielen)

There are three different kinds of Development Cards. Knights (=>), Progress
(=>) and Victory Points (=>). Each player keeps his or her Development
Cards hidden from the other players. At any time during a player's turn, he or
she may play a Development Card: either 1 Knight or 1 Progress Card. However,
you may never play a Development Card bought in the current turn.

Victory Point Cards -- one or more -- count towards the 10 points a player needs
to win, but they are not revealed until the end of the game.

Distance Rule (Abstandregel)

A settlement may only be founded at an unoccupied Intersection and only if the
three adjacent Intersections are unoccupied as well.

Example

The Intersections marked "A" already contain settlements. By the
Distance Rule, no settlements may be placed on the Intersections marked
"B". A Settlement may be placed at "C".

Domestic Trade (Binnenhandel)

Trading with the other players.

The player, in his or her turn, may trade (after the awarding of Raw Material
Production) with the other players. The exchange terms are left to the
negotiating skills of the players. IMPORTANT: Trades may only be made with the
player currently taking his or her turn. The other players may not trade between
themselves now. Example: It is Hans' turn. He wants to build a Road but it costs
1 Brick and he only has 2 Lumber and 3 Ore. Hans says: "I'll offer 1 Ore for
1 Brick". Werner replies: "If you give me 3 Ores, I'll give you 1
Brick." Gabi jumps in with: "I'll give you 1 Brick for 1 Lumber and 1
Ore." Hans accepts Gabi's offer and the exchange is made.

Important

Because it is Hans turn, Werner may not exchange with Gabi.

Edges (Wege)

Edges are found wherever 2 hexes meet. Roads may only be built on Edges, but
never on the Edge between two Sea Hexes. Each Edge leads to an Intersection which
is the point where 3 hexes meet.

Founding Phase (Grundungsphase)

After the game board has been set up, each player chooses a color and takes the
following in their color:

5 Settlements (cottages)

4 Cities (churches)

15 Roads (small rods)

Each player also receives a Building Costs Card.
The Raw Material Cards are sorted face up into 5 stacks.
The two Special Cards and the dice are set next to the game board.
And the robber is placed in the Wasteland (Desert).

The Founding Phase is made up of two rounds during which each player will have
built 2 Roads and 2 Settlements.

1st Round

Roll the dice and the highest number is the Start Player. That player places a
Settlement on the Intersection of his or her choice. On any of the Edges leading
from the Settlement, the player places a Road. Continuing clockwise, each other
player does the same.

Important

When placing the Settlements remember that you must follow the Distance Rule.

2nd Round

The player who placed last in the 1st Round places first in the 2nd Round. He or
she again places a Settlement and attaches a Road to it.

Note

The other players now place in counter-clockwise order. The Start Player will
place last.

The second settlement may be set on any free Intersection as long as the
Distance Rule is followed.

The second road must connect to the second settlement along any of the Edges
leading from the settlement..

Each player receives Raw Material Production based on the Land Hexes that
border his or her SECOND settlement. One Raw Material Card
of the proper type is taken for each of these Land Hexes.

The player who built his or her 2nd Settlement last (the Start Player), now
begins the game: He or she rolls the dice for the Raw Material Production.

Helpful hints may be found in the Tactics (=>) section.

Game End (Spielende)

If a player has gained 10 victory points at any point during his or her turn,
then that player has won.

Example

A player has 2 settlements (2 points), the Longest Trade Route (2 points), 2
cities (4 points) and 1 victory point card. During his turn he buys another
Development Card and draws another victory point card. The player reveals both
victory point cards and wins the game.

Game Outline (Spielablauf)

First: Construction, variables (=>).

Second: Preparation: Founding Phase (=>).

Third (and for the rest of the game): The start player begins, Each player in
their turn performs the following phases in the following order:

Raw Material Production Phase (=>).

Trade Phase(=>).

Build Phase(=>).

The player to the start player's left continues the game by performing the 3
game phases and so on....

Harbor Location (Hafenstandort)

To trade at a harbor, a player must build a Settlement on a Coastal
Intersection that is adjacent to a harbor location (semicircle). In harbors, Raw
Materials may be exchanged at more favorable rates than you may get from you
fellow players. See Sea Trade.

Intersections (Kreuzung)

Intersections are where three hexes meet. Settlements can only be erected at
intersections. Since three hexes border each intersection, the influence of a
settlement or city extends over the same three hexes.

Knights (Ritter)

If during his or her turn a player reveals a Knight Development Card, then that
player must immediately move the Robber.

The player moves the Robber to any other Land Hex.

Then the player may rob (and keep) a Raw Material Card from any one of the
players who own a settlement or city that borders the new location of the Robber.
The robbing player selects the player to rob and then draws one of that player's
Raw Material Cards at random.

Example

It is Hans' turn and he reveals a knight card. He moves the robber from the
mountain hex to the forest hex with the "4" Number Chip. Hans may now
take a Raw Material Card from either player A's or player B's concealed hand. If
a "4" is rolled in the following Raw Material Production Phases, then
neither A nor B will receive Lumber from this hex. This will be true until the
robber is moved--by a player revealing another Knight card or by the dice roll of
7 during a Raw Material Production Phase.

The first player to reveal 3 Knight cards receives the special card for the
Largest Knight Force. This card is worth 2 Victory Points. As soon as another
player reveals one more Knight card, that player receives the Largest Knight
Force from the current owner.

Largest Knight Force (Groste Rittermacht)

The first player to reveal his or her third Knight Card receives this special
card which counts for 2 Victory Points. If during the course of the game another
player reveals more Knight Cards than the current owner of this special card,
then that player immediately takes over the card. Only the current owner of the
largest Knight Force Card receives the 2 Victory Points.

Longest Trade Route (Langste Handelsstrasse)

As soon as a player has built a nonstop trade route at least 5 individual Roads
long, he or she takes this special card. This card is worth 2 Victory Points.

Important

If a player owns a branching road network, only the longest continuous
section counts toward winning this special card.

As soon as another player has a longer trade route, then that player takes this
card from its current owner.

Example

The White player has a nonstop trade route between intersections A and B. It is 7
roads long. Arrows in the diagram are pointing towards branching roads that do
not count. The White player is given the Longest Trade Route Card.

Note

A trade route can be interrupted! If the Black player builds a settlement at
intersection C (which is possible), then White's trade route would no longer be
the longest. The 7 section route would become a 3 section route and a 4 section
route. Then White would have to give the Longest Trade Route Card to Black whose
longest trade route is 6 road sections long.

If such an interruption were to create a situation where no one player clearly
owned the single longest trade route, then the Longest Trade Route Card is set
aside until one player alone owns the Longest Trade Route.

Number Chips (Zahlenchips)

These round chips have the numbers 2 through 12 on one side. The "2"
and "12" appear only once, all other numbers (except "7", see
Robber) occur twice. The larger the number, the higher the probability that it
will be rolled during the Raw Material production phase. The most frequently
rolled numbers are "6" and "8". They are printed in red. The
letters on the reverse of each chip are important only for the construction of
the game board.

Progress Cards (Fortschrittskarten)

Progress Cards are a kind of Development Card. They are only used once and then they are taken out of the game. There are two each of the following:

Road Building (Strassenbau): Whoever plays this may immediately place 2 new roads (following the usual road building rules) onto the game board.

Invention (Erfindung): Whoever plays this may immediately take 2 Raw Material Cards. These may be used in the player's Build phase.

Monopoly(Monopol): Whoever plays this states what Raw Material he or she is monopolizing. All other players must give to him or to her all of their Raw Material Cards that match the declared Monopoly.

Remember

You cannot buy and play a Development Card in the same turn.

Raw Material Cards (Rohstoffkarten)

There are 5 different Raw Material Cards. The players receive these cards as
Raw Material Production whenever their settlements or cities border producing
hexes. Each player must keep his or her Raw Material Cards concealed in his or
her hand. If there is ever a turn when there is not enough Raw Material Cards of
a given type to give out to all players that have earned them, then no one
receives any cards of that type.

Raw Material Production (Rohstoffertrage)

The first thing each player must do in his or her turn is to roll the dice to
determine where Raw Materials will be produced for this turn. The number rolled
shows what Land Hexe(s) will be producing Raw materials this turn. All players
who own settlements or cities that border the specified hexes receive that hex's
particular Raw Material Card. Each settlement receives one Raw Material Card,
each city receives 2 Raw Material Cards.

Example

The player who owns settlement A has rolled a "4". His settlement
borders on two hexes with the "4" Number Chip: a Mountain Range and a
Pasture.He takes from the Raw aterial decks 1 Ore card and 1 Wool card. The
player who owns settlement B takes 1 Wool card. If settlement B was a city, then
that same player would have taken 2 Wool cards.

Roads (Strasse)

Roads are the connections between your own settlements or cities. Roads are built
on Edges. If you do not build new roads, you will not be able to build new
settlements. Roads only directly add to your victory point total if you have the
Longest Trade Route Card.

Example

The player who owns settlement "A" would like to build a road. He may
build it only on the Edges marked by the arrows. Roads may only be built on
edges. They may be built along the coast, but never between two Sea Hexes.

Robber (Rauber)

The Robber (the black game figure) is placed in the Wasteland at the start of the
game.

The Robber is moved only if:

a player reveals a Knight card, or

a seven is rolled during a Raw Material Production phase.

While the Robber stands in a Land Hex, that Land Hex produces no Raw Material.

Rolling a Seven (Sieben gewurfelt-Rauber wird aktiv)

The robber becomes active.

If a player rolls a seven during his or her Raw Material Production phase,
then no Land Hex will produce this turn. On the contrary: All players count their
Raw Material Cards on hand. Whoever has more than 7 cards must select half (round
down) of them to return to their respective stack(s).

Example

Hans rolls a "7". He only has 6 cards, Benni has 7 and Wolf has 11.
Wolf must return 5 card to the stacks. He chooses to lose 3 Lumber cards and 2
Wool cards.

Then the player who rolled the "7" must move the robber to another
Land Hex. Also, this player may now use the robber to take (and keep) a Raw
Material Card from any player who owns a settlement or city that borders the
new location of the robber. The player being robbed fans out his or her Raw
Material Cards with the backs toward the robbing player. The robbing player draws
one card at random. See Knights.

The player that rolled the "7" continues the game by moving on
to the Trading Phase of his or her turn.

Sea Trade (Seehandel)

During the trading phase of a player's turn, a player may make trades without
involving the other players by using Sea Trade.

The simplest (and least advantageous) exchange is at 4:1. The player returns any
4 Raw materials of the same type to its respective stack and in return takes any
1 Raw Material from its stack. The player does not have to have a settlement or
a city at a Harbor Location to make this kind of trade.

Example

Hans returns 4 Ore cards to the Ore card stack and takes back 1 Lumber from the
Lumber stack. It would be better to negotiate a more advantageous exchange rate
with another player, but if no one is willing to trade with you...

A player gets better exchange rates if he or she has erected a settlement or a
city at a harbor location (semi-circles). There are 2 kinds of Harbor Locations:

Simple harbor (3:1): For any 3 identical Raw Material Cards that a player
returns to their stack, that player may draw any 1 Raw Material from its stack.

Example

Special Harbor (2:1): Now it is important to note in which Special Harbor a
player has established his or her settlement or city. The favorable exchange rate
of 2:1 counts only for the Raw Material printed on the harbor Sea Hex.

Example

A player has constructed her settlement (or city) on a Special Harbor location
that shows the game symbol for Wool (a sheep). This player returns 2 WOOL cards
to the wool card stack and takes back any 1 Raw Material card from any of the
stacks. This same player could also have turned in 4 WOOL cards and drawn back
any 2 Raw Material Cards from the stacks.

Note

A Special Harbor does NOT allow the exchange of other raw
materials (in the above example non-wool raw materials) at the 3:1 rate.

Settlements (Siedlung)

A settlement counts as 1 Victory Point. Settlements are only erected at
intersections (where 3 hexes meet). The owner of a settlement will receive Raw
Materials from the 2 (coastal intersection) or 3 bordering Land Hexes when their
number is rolled (and the robber is not there).

When building a settlement, you must consider two points:

The settlement must be connected to your own road.

The Distance Rule must be obeyed.

Example

The White player would like to build a new settlement. the settlement may be
built at all intersections marked with a "B". No settlements can be
built on the intersections marked "A" because that would violate the
Distance Rule. No settlement may be built at intersection "C" because
no white road connects to that intersection.

Note

Once a player has built five settlements one of those settlements must be
transformed into a city before he or she may build another settlement.

Start arrangement for beginners

If you are a beginner, you may want to set up the game board as follows (see the
reverse of the rules sheet):

Place the Land Hexes exactly as shown.

Ditto for the Sea Hexes.

Place the round Number Chips exactly as displayed too.

Set up the settlements and roads by color as shown.

Tactics (Taktik)

Since the game is played on a variable game board, the proper tactics for each
game is different. Nevertheless, there are a few general points to bear in mind:

Bricks and Lumber are the most important Raw materials to own at the start of the game. They are needed in both the building of roads and settlements. Each player should therefore try to place a settlement next to at least one "good" forest or hill hex. A "good" hex is one with a frequently rolled number (5,6,8,9).

Do not underestimate the value of harbor locations. Special Harbors in particular can be very profitable sources of Raw materials if your other settlements have access to hexes that produce the harbor's required Raw Material.

Plan to expand. Don't allow yourself to be trapped by the other players' roads.

Trade every chance you can. Even if it is not your turn, by making an offer to the player whose turn it is you increase you chances of getting something you can use later.

Trade Phase (Handel)

After the current player has rolled the dice to determine Raw Material
Production, he or she may perform trades to gain more Raw Material Cards. He or
she may exchange Raw Material Cards with the other players (Domestic Trade), or
without the other players (Sea Trade).

As long as the current player has Raw Material Cards to trade, that player can
make as many trades as he or she likes.

Victory points (Siegpunkte)

The first player to gain 10 victory points wins the game.
Victory points are awarded for:

Each settlement: 1 Victory Point

Each city: 2 Victory Points

Longest trade route: 2 Victory Points

Largest knight force: 2 Victory Points

Each Victory Point Card: 1 Victory Point

Note

Each player begins the game with 2 settlements and therefore starts with 2
Victory Points. It only takes 8 more to win.

Victory Point Card (Siegpunktkarte)

When a player buys a Development Card, they might draw a Victory Point Card.
These cards represent important cultural achievements. If a player has bought a
victory point card, he or she should keep it secret until they are ready to end
the game by declaring it/them part of the 10 victory points needed to win.

Hint

You should always keep at least one Development Card concealed. This will make
the other players worry that you have a Victory Point card.

Wasteland (Wuste)

The Wasteland or Desert is the only land hex that will never produce Raw
Materials. The robber is placed in the wasteland at the start of the game. If you
build at an Intersection that borders the wasteland, you must be aware that only
2 of your bordering land hexes have a chance of producing Raw Materials.